Man prides himself on being the spirit of all things, but his inner beast has not been abandoned for a moment. When they are cornered, they may often be more savage than animals. In Zi Tong Zhi Jian alone, there were as many as 4/kloc-0 times of "great famine" and as many as 33 times of "cannibalism", but now we are in a peaceful and prosperous era, and of course we can't feel the same with the purgatory on the earth at that time.
It may be unthinkable for modern people to change their children for food in ancient times. Parents' love for their children is selfless and great. Shouldn't it be easy for parents to eat? But this is just the idea of modern people. It's so humane. It is impossible for parents in ancient times to love their children unconditionally.
In ancient times, the idea of father and son was deeply rooted. Parents are children's days, children's land, and children have no status in front of their parents. Even today, many people still regard children as their private property and an object. It is normal to beat and scold casually. In ancient times, there was no need to go to jail for manslaughter.
Secondly, if it really comes to eating by exchanging food, the tragic state is beyond our imagination and description, and human beings have really become beasts. At this time, people's psychological state can correspond to Maslow's hierarchy theory. If you are interested, you can study it carefully. Let me make a brief explanation here: eating by exchanging food corresponds to the survival needs of the first layer of food. Only when this layer is satisfied will everything behind be considered. In other words, people can't be considered as an advanced society that loves children.
Therefore, whenever there was a large-scale famine in ancient times, the dehumanization of changing children to eat would appear frequently.